Touchet mercy-rules visiting Vikings, 14-4

TOUCHET — Touchet High pitcher Octavio Preciado went five strong innings on the hill and the Indians smacked 10 hits with eight walks to take a 14-4 win over Umatilla here Thursday afternoon.

“We hit the ball well and were very patient at the plate,” Touchet coach Tim McKeown said. “I think our patience at the plate was the difference in the game.”

Touchet had three hit-by-pitches to go with all of the walks.

“If the other team had stayed with their first two pitchers,” McKeown said, “they may have done better. Umatilla may be saving those arms for down the road. We somehow we got to their bullpen and took advantage of it.”

The game started as a pitchers’ duel through the first three innings. Touchet was ahead only 2-0 before the fourth, scoring single runs in the first and second innings.

Touchet scored in the first on a Nate Ortiz single and a wild pitch that put him in scoring position at second. Jose Martinez’s RBI single to left scored Ortiz.

In the second inning, Tyler Rensland singled and stole second. Jared Ortiz then doubled him home.

The third inning was scoreless, but both teams went wild in the fourth.

Umatilla scored four runs on two hits, two walks and two Touchet errors. Bryce Kennedy tripled to lead off and scored on a wild pitch.

Seth Doughty reached first on a fielding error by Touchet third baseman Jaime Martinez, stole second and reached third on a groundout.

Justin Siler walked and an error on Connor McKeown, the Indian’s second basemen, put a second Viking on and allowed Doughty from third to score.

Another walk for the Vikings loaded the bases. Corey Landon ripped an RBI single to score a third run and leave the sacks loaded.

David Bernal had an RBI groundout for another run, followed by a groundout that ended the top of the inning.

“We made some mental mistakes on grounders and throwing errors,” McKeown said. “That allowed them to get some base runners on and go up on us.”

The Indians were down 4-2, but still had Preciado on the mound.

“Umatilla is a pretty decent team when their pitching is on,” McKeown said. “They started switching up some pitching and we started scoring some more runs.”

Touchet exploded for 11 runs in the bottom of the inning on four hits, seven walks and two hit-by-pitches. The Indians went through three Viking pitchers in the inning.

The highlights of the inning include a two-RBI double by Colter McKeown and two-run single by Tim Weber. Jared Ortiz walked twice in the inning, once forcing in a run with the bases loaded. Rensland and Preciado each added RBI singles.

Touchet held Umatilla scoreless in the fifth and quickly added the final mercy-rule run in the bottom of the inning.

The Indians scored on a Cori Ochoa walk, Rensland single and Jackson Elsasser RBI single to end the game.

Preciado pitched his five innings to get the win.

“Octavio (Preciado) did really well on the mound,” McKeown said. “We made some mistakes in the field behind him that can be corrected with more practice.”